The twists and turns are back. I did not guess the killer – or even what the case really was – until the writers were ready to tell me. I love that and I loved this episode.
The episode opens with a continuation of last week’s notification scene. Gustavo has to identify his sister, Mariana’s body. It is a heart-breaking scene, but it is still nice to see that Mariana has her name back and someone to claim her. It was really interesting to see Dr. Morales in his public professional mode. It’s a job I couldn’t imagine doing, but he was considerate while being the guardian of his domain.
They follow Price’s clothes back to a hotel where they find a bed covered in blood. I loved the list of fake names used in the last 48 hours. Two Jack Bauers. Ha! (More and more I think a small container of Lysol is a required item for my luggage when I travel. I hadn’t considered the grossness of a hotel’s remote control.)
In the hotel room they discover a bed with new sheets (with packaging) and two bloodstains on different parts of the bed. There is a plumbers van in the parking lot but it is not registered at the hotel. They assume that the van’s owner moved Price’s car, planning to return for his van later. The van owner, Max Riley, becomes their first suspect. Sykes goes to stake out Riley’s home, SID is called and they head for the coroner’s office.
Despite assumptions at the initial scene, Dr. Morales informs Raydor, Sanchez, and Flynn that Price wasn’t shot. He was stabbed at the base of the skull with a screwdriver. They also discover that the gun Price was carrying was registered to a man who went missing nine months ago.
While the rest of the unit searches for Max Riley, Raydor interviews John Price’s ex-wife. They were married only one year. Not surprisingly she believes he married her for her money. (She inherited 30 million dollars from her father, who owned an extremely successful construction company.) What threw me was her reaction to being told that her ex-husband’s last words were that he’d always loved her. “He lied about everything!”
Sykes and Sanchez talk to Mrs. Riley. Her husband had, had an affair. She assumed, when the police asked about a motel, that he was with another woman. Tao interrupts the interview with information about what else was found in the truck where they found Riley’s body. Price’s favorite lunch truck leads them to a scrap yard that appears to have been his home base. They find a lived in trailer with a picture of Price’s ex-wife. So, he lived here.
The evidence found in Price’s trailer would convict him of these murders except that he’s dead. They find a victim that survived an attack with a screwdriver. When he realizes that he could have been killed that night, he tells the truth about what happened with Price’s ex-wife. They’d been having an affair. That night she’d asked him if he loved her. He initially thought she was joking. When he told her he loved his wife she tried to stab him in the head with a screwdriver. Her extremely rich father offered him a deal…be arrested for rape, or quit with an excellent recommendation.
They go after their confession differently than usual. Instead of an interrogation room, they have the former Mrs. Price meet them at the morgue to identify her ex-husband’s body. She initially claims that Price framed her. When that doesn’t work, she declares that her victims were rapists, which justified her killing them. Finally, she turns toward the camera and declares it was self-defense. Too bad there’s not a justice system companion show so we could watch this trial. I think it’s going to be a fun one.
This week I’d classify the B-Story as the Alice/Mariana story more that Rusty’s story. Rusty was present but not really driving the story. Gus has identified his sister and is trying to find a way to work the system to have his sister buried since he doesn’t have the necessary monies. He tries to use the fact that the Hobbs wants him to testify as leverage to get the state to cover the cost of the funeral. It doesn’t work. Hobbs needs to know why Mariana ran away from Gus when they connected in Las Vegas. Andy offers to let the guy stay with him over night. They have the guilt of letting down their families in common. Gus lets Andy know that, while he wants his sister buried with respect, what he really wants is custody of Paloma, their youngest sister. He needs the police to find her. He has tried in two different states and not been allowed to file the missing persons report.
Andy tells Gus that the word “official” is the root of the trouble with regard to the question of finding Paloma. Since she’s only 12, they can begin an official search for her. However, doing that means she would be sent back to their parents. Gus’ desire to take the girls back home so they could all live as a family is why Mariana ran from him in Las Vegas. Gus tried to convince Mariana that he had backed off on the idea of returning to their mother. He was willing for the three of them to be a family, but Mariana didn’t believe him. He accepts Andy’s offer of an alternative. Andy will look for Paloma off the books. He promises. The expression on Rusty’s face pulled my focus. I was trying to figure out if it was an expression of Rusty’s trust in Andy or caution about believing him. But then Rusty tells Andy that this better be a real promise and not just something he said to get a witness to talk. Andy swears it’s real.
I really enjoyed this episode. I followed the investigation along with the detectives, because I had no clue otherwise. Where the story ended up was such complete surprise to me that I was bouncing with a little bit of glee with the reveal of the additional bodies.
Did you enjoy the episode as much as I did?
